There was a graph showing how these team subreddits grew over the past couple of years and the moment they established themselves as an elite team, their fan base more than quadrupled. But it happens with every franchise, the bandwagon is strong. I've always wondered why the Packers have such a huge bandwagon, their a good team but their city is so small and it seems like every new football fan aligns themselves with the Packers.

and the moment they established themselves as an elite team, their Reddit fan base more than quadrupled.

FTFY

Also, it'd be nice to get an 'adjusted for Reddit growth' style parameter. If Reddit grew by 50%, and the Seahawks sub grew by 60%.....vs Reddit growing by 50%, and another teams sub only growing by 20%....etc etc....it'd give a much better idea of what's really going on.

You can absolutely put part of it on Reddit's growth but for the most part its because of the great season, that graph a couple of weeks ago showed just how the fanbase exploded, it happens to every team once they get good. Except for the Packers who always just seem to be getting more fans no matter what happens.

The Seahawks made the playoffs 5 straight years, winning the division 4 straight, and going to the Super Bowl one of them. We had two down years (STILL finished 3rd place, both years; STILL got 9 wins over 2 seasons), then welcomed a new high-paid coach with a playoff win. Two years ago with T-Jack as QB, we were frustrated, but it'd be completely inaccurate to say that the fanbase wasn't just as rabid in 2011 as it was in 2010. We had FIVE Pro-Bowlers that year, and in Week 9, began our current streak of only having losses by 7 or less points, meaning, being in every single game until the last possession. Nothing makes people want to stay tuned more than having a legitimate belief that we can hang in any and every game, and not get blown out. And, of course, the last 2 years have spoken for themselves.

You keep saying "the fanbase exploded", when it's just not the case. We've been really out here for the last decade, within striking distance of another division title, and another playoff run. The only thing that changed is that more Seahawks fans are coming ON REDDIT, both to participate in the discussion, and to see other people swoon about our team, and participate in these inside jokes ("U Mad Bro", Skittles, Russell/Deity, etc). We also have a lot of admirers on /r/NFL that just want to see what our team is up to. It's "cool" to like the Seahawks and Panthers these days. It feels pompous and played out to cheer for the Pats, Steelers, Packers, or any of the other old-guard teams.

If anything, the casual portion of our fanbase is IMPLODING, because they're all becoming dedicated. I can think of 31 teams that probably wish they had the same problem.